psychological explanation- forensic psychology Flashcards

Question

what is offending as learned behaviour

Answer 1

may be acquired same way as any other behaviour learning occurs most often through interactions with others who the child values most and spends most time with suggests it should be possible to mathematically predict how likely it is individual commit offences- need frequency intensity and duration of exposure to deviant and non deviant norms and values offending arrises from two factors- learned attitudes towards offending and learning of specific offending acts and techniques

Answer 2

person socialised into group exposed to values and attitudes towards law- pro crime or anti crime sutherland- number of pro criminal attitudes the person comes to acquire outweights number of anti criminal attitudes they will go on to offend learning process is the same whether a person is learning offending or conformity to the law

Answer 3

would be offender may learn particular techniques for committing offences might include how to break into house through locked window or how to disable car stereo before stealing it

Answer 4

sutherland-why convicts released from prison go on to reoffend assume that inside prison inmates learn specific texhniques of offending from each other more experienced offenders that may put into practice upon their release learning may occur through observational learning and imitation or direct tuition from offending peers

Answer 5

cambridge study in delinquent development longitudinal survey of development of offending and antisocial behaviour in 411 boys study began when boys aged 8 in 1961 all living in deproved inner city area of south london of those sampled 41% convicted at least one offence between 10 and 50 average conviction career lasted from age 19 to 28 and included five convictions most important childhood risk factor age 8-10 later offending were measures of family criminality daring or risk taking low school attainment poverty and poor parenting small proportion of pps 7% defined as chronic offenders because accounted for half od all officially recorded offences in study

Answer 6

at the time changed focus of offending explanations sutherland successful in moving emphasis away from early biological accounts of offending and theories that explained offending as being product of individual weakness or immorality draws attention to fact that deviant social circumstances and environments may be more to blame for offending than deviant people approach more desirable because offers more realistic solution to problem of offending instead of eugenics or punishment runs risk of stereotyping individuals who come from pmpoverished crime ridden backgrounds such as unavoidably offenders by case bias theory tend to suggest that exposure to pro crime values is sufficient to produce offending in those exposed to it ignores fact people choose not to offend despite such influences as not everyone who is exposed to pro crime attitudes goes on to offend

Answer 7

can account for offending within all sectors of society sutherland recognised some types of offence may be clustered within certain inner city working class communities is it also case that some offences clustered more affluent groups interested in white collar or corporate offences and how this may be feature of middle class social groups who share deviant norms and values shows not just lower classes who commit offences and that the pricniples of differential association can be used explain all offences

Answer 8

difficult to test predictions of differential association sutherland aimed provide scientific mathematical framework within future offending behaviour could be predicted and must be testable many concepts not testable because cant be operationalised hard to see how the number of pro crime attitudes a person has or has been exposed to could be measured theory built on assumption that offending behavour occur when pro crime values outnumber anti crime ones cant know at what point the urge to offend is realised and offending career triggered theory does not have scientific credibility

Answer 9

sutherland-response of family crucial in determining whether individual likely engage in offending family seen to support offending activity making seem legitimate and reasonable becomes major influence on childs value system farrington study intergenerational offneding key feature of findings offending behaviour seems to run in families interpreted as supporting other explnations combo of genes or innate neural abnormality predisposes person to offend may be inherited from family members

Answer 10

formed at end of phallic stage when children resolve oedipus complex works on morality principle and exerts influence by punishing ego through guilt for wrongdoing rewarding it with pride for good moral behaviour blackburn-superego somehow deficient or inadequate then offending behaviour inevitable because id is given free rein and not controlled the weak superego-same gender parent absent during phallic stage child cant internalise fully formed superego no opportunity for identification, make immoral or offending behaviour more likely deviant superego-if superego child internalises has immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour- boy raised by crimina father not likely associate guilt with wrongdoing overharsh superego-healthy superego based on identification with parent who firm rules but forgives transgressions, excessively punitive or overly harsh parenting style leads to child with over harsh superego who is crippled by guilt and anxiety may drive individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy superegos overwhelming need for punishment

Answer 11

effect of inadequate superego allow to primitive emotional demands to become uppermost in guiding moral behaviour key feature of psychodynamic approach and marks out as different from other explanations of crime that we looked at psychodynamic deals with emotional life of individual- acknowledges role of anxiety and guilt in development of offending behaviour lack of guilt i relevant to understanding offending behaviour as in the case of maternal deprivation theory whcih we are about to consider

Answer 12

bowlby- ability form meaningful relationships in adulthood dependent upon child forming warm continuous relationship with mother figure failure establish relationship during first few years of life means a child is likely to experience number of damaging and irreversible consequences in later life development of particular personality type known as affectionless psychopathy characterised by lack of guilt ampahty and feeling for others maternally deprived individuals likely engage in acts of delinquency and cant develop close relationships with others bowlby- 44 thieves supported claims, found through interviews with thieves and families that 14 of the sample he studied showed personality and behavioural characteristics that could be classified as affectionless psychopathy of 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separaton from mothers during infancy non offender group only two had experienced similar early separation bowlby concluded effects of maternal deprivation had caused affectionless and delinquent behaviour among juvenile thieves

Answer 13

research support for link between offending and superego goreta conducted freudian style analysis of ten offenders referred for psychiatric treatment disturbances in superego formation were diagnosed each offender experienced unconscious feelings of guilt and need for self punishment goreta explained this as consequence of over harsh superego the need for punishment manifesting itself as a desire to commit acts of wrongdoing and offend evidence support role of psychic conflicts and over harsh superego as basis for offending central principles of inadequate superego not supported theory were correct expect harsh punitive parents raise children experience feelings of guilt and anxiety evidence suggests opposite is true parents who rely on harsher forms of discipline tend to raise children who are rebellous and rarely express feelings of guilt or self criticism calls into question relationship between strong punitive internal parent and excessive feelings of guilt within child

Answer 14

gender biased implicit assumption within theory is girls develop weaker superego than boys because identification with same gender parent not as strong girls dont experience intense emotion associated with castration anxiety and under less pressure identify with mothers their superego less fully realised implication women should be more prone to offending behaviour than men rates of imprisonment show opposite more likely to be true- UK 20 times more men are in prison than women children required resist temptation hoffman found hardly evidence of gender differences and girls tended to be more moral than boys suggests there is aplha bias at heart of freuds theory and means may not be appropriate as explanation of offneding behaviour

Answer 15

bowlbys theory is only based on association between maternal deprivation and ofefnding lewis- analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people and found that maternal deprivation was poor predictor of future offending and ability form close relationships in adolescence even if link between children who have experienced frequent or prolonged separation from their mothers and offending in later life not casual relationship countless other reasons for apparent link might explain later offending suggests maternal deprivation may be one of reasons for later offending behaviour but not only reason

Answer 16

some of first to link early experience in childhood to moral behaviour and offending something now regarded as common sense in contemporary criminology explanations also drew attention to emotional basis of offending factor largely ignored by other explanations unconscious concepts within psychodynamic not open empirical testing absence of supporting evidence arguments such as inadeuqate superego can only be judged on their face value rather than scientific worth

psychological explanation- forensic psychology Flashcards

(41 cards)